Fascinating immigration-related facts...

from 2 agencies withhold key data on workers - Records could help find illegal immigrants
by Liz Chandler, Knight Ridder News Service

The IRS and the Social Security Administration routinely collect strong evidence of potential workplace crimes, including names and addresses of millions of people who are using bogus Social Security numbers, their wage records and the identities of the bosses who knowingly hire them.

But they keep those facts secret... The two agencies don't analyze their data to root out likely immigration fraud – and they won't share their millions of records so that law enforcement agencies can do that, either. Privacy laws, they say, prohibit them from sharing their files with anyone, except in rare criminal investigations.

But the agencies don't even use the power they have. The IRS doesn't fine even the most egregious employers who repeatedly submit inaccurate data about their workers. The Social Security Administration does virtually nothing to alert citizens whose Social Security numbers are being used by others...

To work lawfully in the United States, individuals must have valid Social Security numbers or authorization from the Department of Homeland Security. But the law doesn't require companies to verify that workers give them names and numbers that match Social Security records. So most companies don't check. That loophole, created by Congress in 1986, makes it hard to prove whether employers know they're hiring illegal workers.